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Abstract:

A touch-controlled electronic apparatus includes a touch screen, and the
touch screen includes a first area used as touch buttons and a second
area used for displaying images. A method for controlling the
touch-controlled electronic apparatus includes the steps of: detecting
whether the touch screen receives a touch signal; when detecting that the
touch screen receives the touch signal, determining whether a touched
position of the touch signal is located on the first area to generate a
determining result; and determining to trigger a first interrupt request
or a second interrupt request according to the determining result.

Claims:

1. A method for controlling a touch-controlled electronic apparatus, the
touch-controlled electronic apparatus comprising a touch screen having a
first area used as touch buttons and a second area used for displaying
images, and the first area of the touch screen adopting a first
capacitive touch panel and the second area of the touch screen adopting a
second capacitive touch panel, the method comprising: detecting whether
the first area of the touch screen receives a touch signal and detecting
whether the second area of the touch screen receives the touch signal to
generate a detecting result; and determining to trigger a first interrupt
request or a second interrupt request according to the detecting result.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining to trigger the
first interrupt request or the second interrupt request according to the
detecting result comprises: when the detecting result indicates that the
first area receives the touch signal, triggering the first interrupt
request; and when the detecting result indicates that the second area
receives the touch signal, triggering the second interrupt request.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: when the first interrupt
request is received, performing a first designated application program
corresponding to a touched position of the touch signal; and when the
second interrupt request is received, performing a second designated
application program corresponding to the touched position of the touch
signal.

4. A touch-controlled electronic apparatus, comprising: a touch screen,
comprising: a first area, used as touch buttons; and a second area, used
for displaying images, wherein the first area of the touch screen adopts
a first capacitive touch panel and the second area of the touch screen
adopts a second capacitive touch panel; a driving circuit, coupled to the
touch screen; and a micro-processing unit, coupled to the driving
circuit.

5. The touch-controlled electronic apparatus of claim 4, wherein the
driving circuit further comprises: a detecting unit, for detecting
whether the first area of the touch screen receives a touch signal and
detecting whether the second area of the touch screen receives the touch
signal to generate a detecting result; and a triggering unit, for
determining to trigger a first interrupt request or a second interrupt
request according to the detecting result of the detecting unit.

6. The touch-controlled electronic apparatus of claim 5, wherein the
micro-processing unit is coupled to the triggering unit of the driving
circuit, for receiving the first interrupt request and the second
interrupt request.

7. The touch-controlled electronic apparatus of claim 5, wherein when the
detecting result of the detecting unit indicates that the first area
receives the touch signal, the triggering unit triggers the first
interrupt request; and when the detecting result of the detecting unit
indicates that the second area receives the touch signal, the triggering
unit triggers the second interrupt request.

8. The touch-controlled electronic apparatus of claim 5, further
comprising: an executing unit, coupled to the micro-processing unit;
wherein when the micro-processing unit receives the first interrupt
request, the executing unit performs a first designated application
program corresponding to the touched position; and when the
micro-processing unit receives the second interrupt request, the
executing unit performs a second designated application program
corresponding to the touched position.

[0003] The present invention relates to a touch-controlled electronic
apparatus and a related control method, and more particularly, to a
device and a method capable of using a touch screen (e.g. a capacitive
touch panel) as touch buttons.

[0004] 2. Description of the Prior Art

[0005] In today's consumer electronics markets, portable electronic
products such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, and
PDA phones have already adopted a touch panel as their interface tool for
data communication. Currently, the electronic products are usually
designed with the trend of light weight and small size, and hence there
is no enough space to accommodate conventional input devices such as
keyboards or mice. Especially with the demands for human nature design in
Tablet PCs, display devices equipped with a touch panel are becoming an
important component of a variety of electronic products.

[0006] Nowadays electronic products (e.g. a mobile phone or a PDA phone)
equipped with a touch panel usually adopt components such as metal dome
keypads, hardwire switches, or resistive buttons to implement the common
buttons of the mobile devices. However, these physical buttons will not
only raise the cost but also occupy the circuit space, which results in a
limitation to the size of the mobile devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] It is one of the objectives of the claimed invention to provide a
touch-controlled electronic apparatus and a related control method to
solve the abovementioned problems.

[0008] According to one embodiment, a method for controlling a
touch-controlled electronic apparatus is provided. The touch-controlled
electronic apparatus comprises a touch screen, wherein the touch screen
has a first area used as touch buttons and a second area used for
displaying images. The first area and the second area of the touch screen
adopt an identical capacitive touch panel. The method includes the steps
of: detecting whether the touch screen receives a touch signal; when
detecting that the touch screen receives the touch signal, determining
whether a touched position of the touch signal is located on the first
area to generate a determining result; and determining to trigger a first
interrupt request or a second interrupt request according to the
determining result.

[0009] According to another embodiment, a method for controlling a
touch-controlled electronic apparatus is provided. The touch-controlled
electronic apparatus comprises a touch screen, wherein the touch screen
has a first area used as touch buttons and a second area used for
displaying images. The first area of the touch screen adopts a first
capacitive touch panel, and the second area of the touch screen adopts a
second capacitive touch panel. The method includes the steps of:
detecting whether the first area of the touch screen receives a touch
signal and detecting whether the second area of the touch screen receives
the touch signal to generate a detecting result; and determining to
trigger a first interrupt request or a second interrupt request according
to the detecting result.

[0010] According to another embodiment, a touch-controlled electronic
apparatus is provided. The touch-controlled electronic apparatus
comprises a touch screen, a driving circuit, and a micro-processing unit.
The touch screen has a first area used as touch buttons and a second area
used for displaying images, wherein the first area and the second area of
the touch screen adopt an identical capacitive touch panel. The driving
circuit is coupled to the touch screen. The micro-processing unit is
coupled to the driving circuit.

[0011] According to another embodiment, a touch-controlled electronic
apparatus is provided. The touch-controlled electronic apparatus
comprises a touch screen, a driving circuit, and a micro-processing unit.
The touch screen has a first area used as touch buttons and a second area
used for displaying images, wherein the first area of the touch screen
adopts a first capacitive touch panel and the second area of the touch
screen adopts a second capacitive touch panel. The driving circuit is
coupled to the touch screen. The micro-processing unit is coupled to the
driving circuit.

[0012] These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt
become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the
following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is
illustrated in the various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] FIG. 1 is an appearance of a touch-controlled electronic apparatus
according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

[0014] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the touch-controlled electronic
apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

[0015] FIG. 3 is an appearance of a touch-controlled electronic apparatus
according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[0016] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the touch-controlled electronic
apparatus shown in FIG. 3.

[0017] FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method for controlling a
touch-controlled electronic apparatus according to a first exemplary
embodiment of the present invention.

[0018] FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method for controlling a
touch-controlled electronic apparatus according to a second exemplary
embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] Please refer to FIG. 1 together with FIG. 2. FIG. 1 is an
appearance of a touch-controlled electronic apparatus 100 according to a
first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram
of the touch-controlled electronic apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1. As
shown in FIG. 1, the touch-controlled electronic apparatus 100 comprises
a touch screen 130, and the touch screen 130 has a first area 110 and a
second area 120. The first area 110 is used as (one or a plurality of)
touch button(s), and the second area 120 is used for displaying images.
Be noted that in this embodiment, the first area 110 and the second area
120 of the touch screen 130 adopt the same capacitive touch panel. That
is, all positions located on the whole touch screen 130 can be used for
sensing fingers.

[0020] As shown in FIG. 2, the touch-controlled electronic apparatus 100
includes, but is not limited to, a touch screen 130, a driving circuit
210, a micro-processing unit 250, and an executing unit 260. The driving
circuit 210 is coupled to the touch screen 130. The driving circuit 210
comprises a detecting unit 220, a determining unit 230, and a triggering
unit 240. The detecting unit 220 is coupled to the touch screen 130 for
detecting whether the touch screen 130 receives a touch signal TU1. The
determining unit 230 is coupled to the detecting unit 220. When the
detecting unit 220 detects that the touch screen 130 receives the touch
signal TU1, the determining unit 230 further determines whether a touched
position P1 of the touch signal TU1 is located on the first area 110 of
the touch screen 130 to generate a determining result DR1. The triggering
unit 240 is coupled to the determining unit 230 for determining to
trigger a first interrupt request IR1 or a second interrupt request IR2
according to the determining result DR1. When the determining result DR1
of the determining unit 230 indicates that the touched position P1 of the
touch signal TU1 is located on the first area 110, the triggering unit
240 triggers the first interrupt request IR1; and when the determining
result DR1 of the determining unit 230 indicates that the touched
position P1 of the touch signal TU1 is located on the second area 120,
the triggering unit 240 triggers the second interrupt request IR2.

[0021] Furthermore, the micro-processing unit 250 is coupled to the
triggering unit 240 of the driving circuit 210 for receiving the first
interrupt request IR1 and the second interrupt request IR2. The executing
unit 260 is coupled to the micro-processing unit 250. When the
micro-processing unit 250 receives the first interrupt request IR1, the
executing unit 260 performs a first designated application program AP1
corresponding to the touched position P1 of the touch signal TU1; and
when the micro-processing unit 250 receives the second interrupt request
IR2, the executing unit 260 performs a second designated application
program AP2 corresponding to the touched position P1 of the touch signal
TU1. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that various
modifications of the first application program AP1 and the second
application program AP2 may be made without departing from the spirit of
the present invention, and they can be designed depending on actual
demands.

[0022] Please note that the touch-controlled electronic apparatus 100 can
be a handheld touch-controlled electronic apparatus, such as a personal
digital assistant (PDA), a mobile phone or a PDA phone. But this should
not be considered as limitations of the present invention, and the
touch-controlled electronic apparatus 100 can be a touch-controlled
electronic apparatus of other types. Moreover, in this embodiment, the
first area 110 and the second area 120 of the touch screen 130 adopt the
same capacitive touch panel, wherein the first area 110 is used as a
touch button area and the second area 120 is used as an image-displaying
area.

[0023] Please also note that the aforementioned detecting unit 220, the
determining unit 230, and the triggering unit 240 can be implemented by
software and/or firmware, but in no way should be considered to be
limitations of the scope of the present invention. As one skilled in the
art will readily appreciate that the detecting unit 220, the determining
unit 230, and the triggering unit 240 can be implemented by other means
or other components without departing the spirit of the present
invention, which also belongs to the scope of the present invention.

[0024] Please refer to FIG. 3 together with FIG. 4. FIG. 3 is an
appearance of a touch-controlled electronic apparatus 300 according to a
second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram
of the touch-controlled electronic apparatus 300 shown in FIG. 3. As
shown in FIG. 3, the touch-controlled electronic apparatus 300 comprises
a touch screen 330, and the touch screen 330 has a first area 310 and a
second area 320. The first area 310 is used as (one or a plurality of)
touch button(s), and the second area 320 is used for displaying images.
Be noted that in this embodiment, the first area 310 and the second area
320 of the touch screen 330 adopt different capacitive touch panels. For
example, the first area 310 adopts a first capacitive touch panel while
the second area 320 adopts a second capacitive touch panel. That is, only
the dotted portions located on the touch screen 330 can be used for
sensing fingers.

[0025] As shown in FIG. 4, the touch-controlled electronic apparatus 300
includes, but is not limited to, a touch screen 330, a driving circuit
410, a micro-processing unit 250, and an executing unit 260. The
components in the second embodiment labeled with the same numbers as the
components in the first embodiment represent that they have the same
functions or corresponding locations. The driving circuit 410 is coupled
to the touch screen 330. The driving circuit 410 comprises a detecting
unit 420 and a triggering unit 440. The detecting unit 420 is coupled to
the touch screen 330 for detecting whether the first area 310 of the
touch screen 330 receives the touch signal TU1 and for detecting whether
the second area 320 of the touch screen 330 receives the touch signal TU1
to generate a detecting result DR2. The triggering unit 440 is coupled to
the detecting unit 420 for determining to trigger a first interrupt
request IR1 or a second interrupt request IR2 according to the detecting
result DR2. When the detecting result DR2 of the detecting unit 420
indicates that the first area 310 receives the touch signal TU1, the
triggering unit 440 triggers the first interrupt request IR1; and when
the detecting result DR2 of the detecting unit 420 indicates that the
second area 320 receives the touch signal TU1, the triggering unit 440
triggers the second interrupt request IR2. Operations related to the
micro-processing unit 250 and the executing unit 260 have already been
detailed in FIG. 2 above, and further description is omitted here for
brevity.

[0026] When the touch-controlled electronic apparatus 300 is compared with
the touch-controlled electronic apparatus 100 mentioned in the first
embodiment, the implementation of the touch-controlled electronic
apparatus 300 is more complicated than that of the touch-controlled
electronic apparatus 100 because the first area 310 and the second area
320 of the touch screen 330 of the touch-controlled electronic apparatus
300 are implemented by adopting different capacitive touch panels. But
the driving circuit 410 of the touch-controlled electronic apparatus 300
has a simpler firmware architecture and a faster processing speed because
there is no need to determine the touched position P1 of the touch signal
TU1.

[0027] Please refer to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method
for controlling a touch-controlled electronic apparatus according to a
first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Please note that the
following steps are not limited to be performed according to the exact
sequence shown in FIG. 5 if a roughly identical result can be obtained.
The method includes, but is not limited to, the following steps:

[0028] Step 502: Start.

[0029] Step 504: Provide a touch-controlled electronic apparatus provided
with a touch screen. The touch screen has a first area used as touch
buttons and a second area used for displaying images, wherein the first
area and the second area adopt the same capacitive touch panel.

[0031] Step 508: Determine whether a touched position of the touch signal
is located on the first area to generate a determining result. When the
determining result indicates that the touched position is located on the
first area, go to Step 510; and when the determining result indicates
that the touched position is located on the second area, go to Step 520.

[0032] Step 510: Trigger a first interrupt request.

[0033] Step 512: Receive the first interrupt request, and perform a first
designated application program corresponding to the touched position.

[0034] Step 520: Trigger a second interrupt request.

[0035] Step 522: Receive the second interrupt request, and perform a
second designated application program corresponding to the touched
position.

[0036] How each element operates can be known by collocating the steps
shown in FIG. 5 with the elements shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, and further
description is omitted here for brevity. Be noted that the step 506 is
executed by the detecting unit 220, the step 508 is executed by the
determining unit 230, the steps 510 and 520 are executed by the
triggering unit 240, and the steps 512 and 522 are executed by the
micro-processing unit 250 and the executing unit 260.

[0037] Please refer to FIG. 6. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method
for controlling a touch-controlled electronic apparatus according to a
second exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The method
includes, but is not limited to, the following steps:

[0038] Step 502: Start.

[0039] Step 604: Provide a touch-controlled electronic apparatus provided
with a touch screen. The touch screen has a first area used as touch
buttons and a second area used for displaying images, wherein the first
area and the second area adopt different capacitive touch panels.

[0040] Step 606: Detect whether the first area of the touch screen
receives a touch signal and detect whether the second area of the touch
screen receives the touch signal to generate a detecting result. When the
detecting result indicates that the first area receives the touch signal,
go to Step 510; and when the detecting result indicates that the second
area receives the touch signal, go to Step 520.

[0041] Step 510: Trigger a first interrupt request.

[0042] Step 512: Receive the first interrupt request, and perform a first
designated application program corresponding to the touched position.

[0043] Step 520: Trigger a second interrupt request.

[0044] Step 522: Receive the second interrupt request, and perform a
second designated application program corresponding to the touched
position.

[0045] Please note that the steps shown in FIG. 6 are similar than the
steps shown in FIG. 5, which is a varied embodiment of FIG. 5. The
difference between them is that the step 604 in FIG. 6 is used for
replacing the step 504 in FIG. 5, and the step 606 in FIG. 6 is used for
replacing the steps 506 and 508 in FIG. 5. How each element operates can
be known by collocating the steps shown in FIG. 6 with the elements shown
in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, and further description is omitted here for
brevity. The step 606 is executed by the detecting unit 420, the steps
510 and 520 are executed by the triggering unit 440, and the steps 512
and 522 are executed by the micro-processing unit 250 and the executing
unit 260.

[0046] Please note that, the steps of the abovementioned flowcharts are
merely practicable embodiments of the present invention, and in no way
should be considered to be limitations of the scope of the present
invention. The method can include other intermediate steps or several
steps can be merged into a single step without departing from the spirit
of the present invention.

[0047] The abovementioned embodiments are presented merely for describing
features of the present invention, and in no way should be considered to
be limitations of the scope of the present invention. In summary, the
present invention provides a touch-controlled electronic apparatus (e.g.
a mobile phone or a PDA) and a related control method. By making use of a
touch screen (e.g. a capacitive touch panel) as touch buttons, common
buttons which are traditionally implemented by components such as metal
dome keypads, hardwire switches, or resistive buttons can be replaced.
Therefore, not only can extra cost and circuit space be saved, but also
an aesthetic goal can be achieved. The touch-controlled electronic
apparatus can adopt the same capacitive touch panel to implement the
first area and the second area of the touch screen (such as the first
embodiment), or can adopt different capacitive touch panels to implement
the first area and the second area of the touch screen (such as the
second embodiment). Both of them have advantages and disadvantages, and
they are able to be applied to different applications depending on actual
demands.

[0048] Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous
modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while
retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above
disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of
the appended claims.